Alright, let's talk about putting together this STEM vacuum cleaner thing I worked on. It started pretty simply, just wanted to see if I could make a little suction device from scratch using bits and pieces I had lying around.

Getting Started - Gathering the Parts

First off, I rummaged through my workshop box. The main idea was a simple motor, a fan blade, and some kind of container. Found an old plastic water bottle, looked about the right size. Then, I needed a small DC motor. I salvaged one from a broken toy car, one of those little guys. Had to test it first, hooked it up to a couple of AA batteries in a holder. Good news, it still spun!

Next, the fan blade. This was trickier. Didn't have a perfect small fan. I ended up trying to cut one out of a thicker plastic lid. It wasn't pretty, but I shaped it into something like propeller blades. Took a few tries to get it roughly balanced.

Putting it Together

Okay, assembly time. I took the plastic bottle and carefully cut the bottom off. That open end would be where the suction happens. Then, I needed to mount the motor inside, near the neck of the bottle. I decided to make a sort of platform for it.

• I cut a piece of sturdy cardboard into a circle that would fit snugly inside the bottle.
• Poked a hole in the center of the cardboard circle for the motor shaft.
• Made two smaller holes for the motor wires to pass through.
• Hot glued the motor onto the cardboard circle. Hot glue is my best friend for these quick builds.
• Pushed the fan blade onto the motor shaft sticking through the cardboard.

Now, I needed to get this motor-fan assembly into the bottle. I carefully slid the cardboard circle down into the bottle until it was positioned just below the neck curve. More hot glue to fix the cardboard ring in place against the bottle walls. This part was fiddly, needed long sticks to position it right before the glue set.

With the motor in place, I poked two small holes near the bottle cap area for the wires to exit. Pulled them through carefully.

Wiring and Housing

The bottle itself was the main body. For the "dust bag," I didn't have one, obviously. So, I took a piece of old thin cloth, like from an old t-shirt. I rubber-banded this cloth over the neck opening of the bottle. The idea was air could pass through, but dust would hopefully get caught.

Then, wiring up the power. I took the battery holder with the two AA batteries and connected the wires coming out of the bottle to the battery terminals. Used some electrical tape just to keep the connections from shorting out. No fancy switch, just connect the wires to turn it on.

The Test Run

Moment of truth. I connected the final wire to the battery pack. The little motor whirred to life, and the homemade fan started spinning inside the bottle. It made a bit of noise, expected that. I put the open bottom end near some small bits of paper I'd torn up.

And hey, it actually worked! Sort of. It managed to suck up the tiny paper scraps. Didn't have massive power, of course, wouldn't clean your carpet. But you could definitely feel the air being pulled in, and the paper bits collected inside the bottle, stopped by the cloth filter.

It was a fun little project. Took maybe an hour or so once I had the parts. Mostly involved cutting plastic, gluing things, and simple wiring. Seeing it actually pull stuff in was pretty satisfying. A good hands-on way to see the basic idea of how a vacuum works.